His
move is a masterstroke that eclipses political differences and diverts
public attention from real issues to imaginary problems
Recently,
Ndorwa East Member of Parliament, David Bahati, re-tabled the
kill-all-gays Bill before parliament. After his presentation, where he
claimed to be the moral vanguard of our society and his Bill the safety
valve for our families, he received a standing ovation from both the
government and opposition MPs. There is nothing that unites our
politicians across the political spectrum than a shared homophobia.
Indeed, it is one obsession that is equally shared by the vast majority
of our esteemed citizens especially our elites that dominate public
discourse in Uganda.
Socrates,
that ever observant old man, called it a “passion driven, mob-led”
circus that could never produce a stable government. Indeed, a
majoritarian view of democracy turns out to be hostile to individual
rights like freedom of expression or conscience. Socrates was sentenced
to death by a democratic assembly in Athens – simply for disagreeing
with the view that government should be governed by a mob in the
marketplace. He was the first martyr of free speech.
Those who
brought the indictment of impiety (that he does not recognise the gods
the state recognises) against him – Anytus, Meletus and Lycon were
leaders of the Democratic Party of Athens. They had captured power from
Critias and his council of 30 who had governed the city since its defeat
by Sparta in 404 BC. It is one of those pranks of history that the
tyrant Critias did not kill Socrates, he only forbade him to continue
his public debates. The trial was held before a popular court of some
500 citizens in 399 BC mostly drawn from the less educated class.
In one of
the most thrilling defences of free thought, Socrates immortalised
himself when he told the court: “I shall never cease from the teaching
of philosophy. Whatever you do, know that I shall never alter my ways,
not even if I have to die many times.”
Earlier in
440 BC Anaxagoras had published his treatise “On Nature”, which caused
uproar. He had called the sun, still a god to the people, a mass of
stone on fire. The Athenian assembly called for his head. Yet there were
hidden motives underneath the manifest ones. Anaxagoras had been a
friend of Pericles. Like Museveni, Pericles had dominated Athenian
politics for decades as Strategos Autokrator or commander in chief – an
elected position. But when no other way could be found to weaken him,
his demagogic rival, Cleon the Tanner, brought a formal indictment
against Anaxagoras. He pursued the case so relentlessly that the
philosopher, in spite of Pericles’ defence of him, was forced into
exile.
Pratogoras,
another philosopher suffered a similar fate. He had argued that “man is
the measure of all things”. At the home of the dramatist, Euripides, he
said that “With regard to the gods, I know not whether they exist or
not.” The Athenian Assembly ordered him to leave Athens. They
commandeered all his books and burned them in the marketplace.
The
history of democratic Athens has always made me sceptical of majorities.
In a country heavily polarised on almost every issue political and a
government moving from one corruption scandal to another almost daily,
Bahati’s move was a masterstroke of political genius. It makes it
possible to build a new social consensus that can eclipse political
differences. The Kill-all-gays Bill is an attempt to identify a
minority to be used as a punching bag to divert public attention from
real issues to imaginary problems.
It is a
trick one can observe in the Republican Party politics in America, a
party I support because of its pro-free market stance. Lacking a shared
policy platform on matters economic with America’s poor whites,
Republicans, whose policy prescriptions tend to favour the rich, often
pitch their electoral politics on social issues. Thus their campaigns
are dominated by a defence of “American Values” – a subtle call for
homophobia, anti-abortion, anti-Islam and a not so disguised racism
against ethnic minorities like blacks and Hispanics. These sentiments
make America’s white underclass often vote against their own economic
interests.
The
liberal idea was born to resist two tendencies – the tyranny of custom
(located in existing social values and customs) and the despotism of the
state (located in politics). In his famous essay “On Liberty” John
Stuart Mill argued that the biggest threat to individual liberty is not
the state. Rather, Mill opined, it is a society that is willing to use
the weight of numbers to suppress and regiment minorities. Thus, the
first principle of a modern liberal democratic state is the defence of
minority rights.
The
current attempt to pass a law to hang homosexuals goes against both the
spirit and letter of a free, liberal democratic system. John Locke
talked of “self-regarding acts” (actions that affect only those who
indulge in them) and “other regarding acts” (acts which impact on
others). If William, 30, and Derrick, 32, decided to sexually stimulate
and satisfy themselves in the privacy of their bedroom, how does that
harm society? However, if James stole Steven’s shirt, it harms Steven.
Rights
belong to individuals, not groups. The right to liberty, to freedom, to
life, to property or to sexual choice, protects individuals. Rights come
under threat when others construct communal rights – like the claim by
Bahati and his allies to be defending some group rights called “the
traditional family” or “cultural values.” It is call for others to
abandon what pleases them in the name of the majority.
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